Own your domain name — don't let your web designer hold it

Your domain name — yourpractice.co.za — is the one asset in your online presence you must own outright, in your own name. Too often it's registered by the web designer or agency that built the site, which means the practice doesn't actually control its own address. It's a quiet problem until the day it isn't.

Here's why it bites. If the agency holds your domain and you part ways — they retire, you're unhappy, the relationship sours — you can be left unable to move your site, change your email, or in the worst case keep your own web address at all. Practices have had to rebuild from scratch, or pay to recover a domain that should have been theirs from the start. The domain is the foundation everything else sits on, and you don't want a foundation someone else can pull.

Getting it right is simple, and worth checking even if your site already exists:

Owning your domain properly

• Register it in the practice's name — with the practice as the listed owner, not the agency or a developer.
• Keep the registrar login yourself. Whoever holds the account controls the domain; that should be you, even if someone else manages the site day to day.
• Note the renewal date. Domains lapse if not renewed, and a lapsed domain can be lost or grabbed. A yearly reminder is enough.
• Keep it portable. Owning the domain means you can move your site and email to any provider, anytime, without asking permission.

None of this costs more than a domain already does — around R100 to R150 a year. It's purely about whose name it's under and who holds the keys. If you're not sure, find out today: ask who registered your domain and whether you can log in to it. The answer tells you whether you own your address or merely borrow it.

We always register a practice's domain in the practice's own name and hand over the keys — but checking who controls your current one is something you can do this afternoon.